Fundamental Rights

Charter / Fundamental rights

Minority rights are human rights

Programmatic Declaration: At home in our region, strong in Europe.

FUEN was founded in Paris in 1949– in the same year that the Council of Europe was founded. The core idea was to establish a Europe of the regions, based on the federal principle, as an instrument guaranteeing peace. The experiences with the two World Wars should lead to new structure of Europe, a Europe of the regions.

In its Charter, FUEN has defined how it sees itself and laid down its commitment to work towards a situation in which all peoples are living peacefully together. The Programmatic Declaration from 2013 provides a framework for the necessary legal protection and support for the minorities by the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Europe has a self-defined responsibility for the minorities and for linguistic and cultural diversity. With the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty and with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights this responsibility has entered into a new dimension. The legal commitments undertaken must also be reflected in more tangible action in relation to the protection and support for the minorities.